Looks like that supply-side, trickle-down stuff has paid off.
Of course, it's somehow the Democratic liberals fault.
but be forwarned - if you need a kidney transplant... if you are over 40 - forget it.
There are other things about living in the UK that would make it less attractive to ya....
but I will admit... they can at least get banana flavored Nestles Quick.
Economic hardship doesn't scare me enough to leave the US. It's when I begin to fear prison that I look for other countries to emigrate to. When that was the way I felt, I will admit that some economic perks as well sounded good.
No, I don't buy that the British medical system is much more screwed up than ours. Like most people in the industrialized world, they take one look at our ad hoc medical system and recoil. They won't even consider it.
That being said, all medical systems have some kind of trouble. You could call them out on one point or another. Ours is ridiculous though. I'd wager that there are more people in our country who can't get an organ transplant than the entire British Island population over 40.
population of the UK - 60,587,000
Population of the US - 303,191,287
sheese.... high school stuff.
But there is another way to think of this... for the most part - the UK (and I do dearly love Scottland... ) is a rather depressing place. think of it... the best food in the UK is indian, or spanish, or italian or pakistani... or whatever... but not brittish...
the clothes are nice - as long as you wear black.
the beer is good - as long as you like it stout and warm....
and the weather is nice - as long as you like it drizzly... so go...
What most miss is that our system says you do NOT HAVE TO pay for your health care... it is optional... in other countries it is not optional - and that is what is not now taught in our school systems... that you do need to plan for these things... It astounds me what my kids are not taught. a couple of weeks ago, I sat down and discussed with them things such as a family budget, insurance (car home and liability), credit and debit information (including how to endorse a check) !!! All things I was taught in school....
Our medical system is not as rediculous as you might think... however, our insurance system - well that is another story... and please let me not get started on the educational system that has produced the mess we have.
I was comparing the number of 40 and over year olds in Britain to the total number of people all ages here who could not get donated organs-- on time. I think the comparison is fair. When you apply those two filters, I reckon that the two figures are far closer.
Please explain the statement that in America you do not have to pay for your healthcare. I'm mystified.
and not pay for health insurance... but even for a 20 yr old - that would be foolish.
-- Modified on 1/8/2008 7:17:43 AM
I am more than capable of affording health insurance, but for the last 30 years I have chosen to self insure. Now that I am nudging fifty I have decided to bet against myself instead of "on myself", by investing in health insurance.
Before any medical system is attempted, we should look at the actuarial tables on how people who opt out really fare over years. If tables don't exist, we need to compile them. You'd also have to include healthy people who "opt out" for reason of inability to get insurance.
(Off-topic: without those tables being available and studied, opting out can't be considered an informed choice.)
A more important question: why is the ability to opt out a greater freedom than the ability to opt in? To opt in, you generally have to find an employer that offers insurance under certain standards, such as if you keep your job for 6 months. Up till then, you're pretty much an indentured servant. Not very free. You trust their intentions, but what if they just want temporary help? Easier to replace the guy after 5 months and 31 days. You aren't motivated to seek a better job with insurance being so insecure.
Afterward, if you're laid off, ALL of your unemployment has to go to COBRA. That's what I found the last time I was on COBRA. Luckily, then I had something saved.
Hell, Bizzaro, IMO, being in that situation isn't freedom. There may be people who would opt out, but that has to be weighed against the people who would like to opt in but can't. It's different interests, not rights. You can't respect both.
You complain about expenses, but I'd like to hear what you say about this: because of medical insurance costs, companies can't pay their employees more. I believe the cost of Medical insurance is a big suppression on wages. Now, arguably, if we're able to do the system right, it should cost less than what the employees lose in wages under the current system. That would be a good deal.
To my thinking, we shouldn't settle for less than the best medical system in the world. It shouldn't even be ambiguous. An economy runs first and foremost on the health and energy of its people. The healthier the people, the more productivity. And crucial, the better their minds function.
I think it's as crucial or more so than education. It is worth a try. We should make it a wonder of the world.
It's a way to re-engage people with their government. Apologies to Kennedy, but people who feel the government does a lot for them can be persuaded to do more for their country. I think Kennedy's "Ask What" speech would have bombed without what Roosevelt did. Would you be inspired now by a great speaker like Obama saying the same thing?
I got highly carried away; please forgive me.
-- Modified on 1/9/2008 3:59:00 PM
"Would you be inspired now by a great speaker like Obama saying the same thing?"
Actually, I would have a huge amount of respect for Obama or any other politician who had the guts to make that speech today.
What a concept? Especially today. Imagine, what could we all do to become more productive members of society for the common good? versus How much can I leech off of other, more productive members of society, and how little can I do to get by?
. . . after Roosevelt's social programs had been in place for years, in the age of 95 percent tax brackets.
It seems to me that being productive isn't the only ethic that's been lost since that day.
I agree, it is the liberals fault, the dirty SOB's.
you'd realize that their standard isn't actually higher than our's anymore, than the Japanese. The cost for goods and services is so much higher that it completely nullifies their slightly(very slightly) higher wages.
I have an idea, let's go back to double digit inflation like in the Carter years. We could beat the Brits at their own game.
But that still sounds pretty damn close enough, and given the rate that the dollar has been declining . . . and many other problems I can name . . . how is it going to turn around.
but I don't think it is going to turn around, not this time, but you're looking in the wrong direction when you look at the Brit's. China is the problem, and I don't have any idea what the solution is.
If we had China's resolve, we would have gone in and stole the oil from the mideast. Instead all we've done is protect the free flow of oil to the rest of the world at US expense.
Competing with china on any level is almost impossible, we cannot pull them up to our standard of living, their population is way too big, what will happen instead is they will bring us down to their level. Not all the way, but as China's standard of liveng grows, it will be at our expense.
Geographically, it would have been, and still is impossible for the US to secure oil from the middle east only for itself. Look at the Persian Golf geographically. If whole countries are against us, how do we run oil out of there and over vast oceans to our shores. Unless the rest of the world is cut into the deal, there's no way.
There was a good argument at the Republican debate about what the rapidly shrinking dollar is doing to the price of crude, and how much better a break the Euro now gets for it.
The declining dollar is killing us, and I blame Bush and his phony tax cuts and multi-trillion dollar failure in Iraq. At least Carter's policies didn't ruin us for the next half-century-- at least.
Don't agree with the statement that we cannot compete with China. First we need to put an end to their industrial espionage, second our major corporations like Cisco needs to show some backbone, thirdly our government needs to take tough stand on intellectual property rights.
Also we need take a stand on working conditions and standards and product standards.
We innovate, they steal and sell back to us cheap. I am not talking about bamboo baskets here either
I hope the Brits are stockpiling grain and medical supplies to drop as care-packages on us when our economy tanks under the weight of national health care... We're so fucked...
Outsource Federal budget and all departments, should save us dollars.
Reminds me of the Freedom of Press report ,... very skewed ...One of the factors in that report is reporter deaths ....Which we have more of because our reporters have more guts than the reporters from Sweden..
Higher income?, maybe, thanks to the dollar devaluation. But they used GDP per person, not the same as incomes, and don't forget taxes to pay for all that "free" stuff.
"free" healthcare? Yea right. Even the article writer or editor felt compelled to put it in quotes.
Longer vacations? To do what? Their cost of goods and services far exceeds ours. They can vacation here tho, far more cheaplly than at home. What's THAT say about cost of living?
We did the same thing when pound was 90¢ once upon a time. Well even Canadian $ is higher than ours in monetary terms.
Canada sells us a couple million barrels of oil a day. Lots of dollars going to Canada ..
Higher oil prices are driving up the Canadian dollar..The Canadian economy was not nearly as good before they started getting oil out of sand..
Does it bother you that indications are that they're getting closer? I exaggerated, but indignity was exactly what I wanted to bring out.
The dollar's decline makes oil more expensive. Oil is . . . everything in this economy.
Longer vacations, perhaps to go to Europe. Perhaps the Caribbean. Or maybe just be with their family? That's right, time with their family, something that builds family bonds. You know, family values?
LOL, U mean the place with the failing health care system. The one that now is excluding services to those whose smoke, although they have free health care. The place that has shitty weather 90% of the year. The place were dental care is the joke of the world for the past 30 years. The place where the Prime Minister was questioned about RACIAL PROFILING and he stated there is nothing wrong with it, this is not America. MMMMM LOL